Cellular, and other wireless, communication systems are used by many. Network infrastructures of wireless communication systems have been installed to encompass significant portions of the populated areas of the world. A wireless device, when positioned in the coverage area defined by the network infrastructure that encompasses a geographical area, and permitted access to the network, is able to communicate with a communication endpoint by way of the network infrastructure. And as communications are performed between the wireless device and the network infrastructure by way of radio channels defined upon a radio air interface formed between the infrastructure and the device, no physical connection is required to be made to the wireless device to provide for the communications by and with the wireless device.
A wireless device used in a cellular, or cellular-like, communication system is often times of small dimensions thereby to permit the wireless device to be hand-carried by, or otherwise carried on the person of, the user. Due to this portability provided to a wireless device, a user of the device is able easily to maintain the device in close proximity, to have the device readily available when needed.
While early-generation cellular communication systems, and devices operable therein, generally provided for voice communications and only limited data communication capabilities, successor generation systems, and devices operable therein, provide for increasingly data-intensive data services. Users of wireless devices increasingly use the wireless devices, not only for telephonic communication services, but also to perform the data communication services.
Message services, such as email and instant message services are amongst the data services that are available and utilized by users of the wireless devices. Such messages typically utilize alphanumeric textual data that is communicated between the wireless device and a communication endpoint. The use of alphanumeric, e.g., textual, messages permits the messages to be viewed at the convenience of a viewer, such as the user of the wireless device. Particularly when the communication service comprises an email communication service, a communicated message is reviewed by a recipient on an as-desired basis, that is, at the convenience of the recipient, such as the user of the device.
Recent years have witnessed the introduction and popular usage of wireless devices that include the capability to have such messages pushed to the wireless device to be available immediately for viewing and, if desired, formation of a response.
Significant attention has been directed towards user interfaces used in wireless, and other, devices that provide for data services. The user interface provides a mechanism by which a user receives information communicated to the device and also provides a mechanism for the formation of information that is communicated by the device. The user interface often times comprises a display screen and an input keyboard. In some implementations, the user interface is implemented as a touch-screen display in which inputs are generated by touching the display screen.
Often times also, when a message is received at the wireless device, an alert is generated to alert a user of the device of the delivery of the message. The user of the device, once alerted, is able immediately, if desired, to view the received message.
It is in light of this background that information related to user interfaces for wireless, or other electronic, devices that the significant improvements of the present disclosure have evolved.